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NY Group Home Death Further Exposes Wide-Scale Discrimination of People with Disabilities

Jonathan Carey "Champion for the Disabled" Born September 12,1993 Killed by caregivers on February 15,2007

It has been reported that Heather Roselli was being physically and verbally abused and no one called 911 until it was too late

The cover-ups of deaths are massive in scope and Governor Andrew Cuomo has refused to stop the criminal cover-ups or the wide-scale discrimination of bypassing 911.”
— Michael Carey- Advocate for people with disabilities and their families

ALBANY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, October 18, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- It is a felony crime in New York State to knowingly do anything likely to be injurious to an incompetent or physically disabled person. Abusing a person with a disability is committing a crime against them, it is that simple, yet why are caregivers and mandated reporters throughout New York State directed to call a State abuse hotline, instead of 911? Attached is the link directly to the poster that New York State is using regarding crimes being committed against the disabled; tens of thousands of these posters are put up all over the State http://www.justicecenter.ny.gov/sites/default/files/documents/JC_RebrandedPoster_ENG_Print.pdf . As you can see for yourself there is no mention that abuse and neglect of a person with a disability being a crime or a directive by the State to immediately call 911. The 911 emergency call systems, set up in every County, are supposed to be in place for everyone, not to discriminate against or negate any specific group of people. Our most vulnerable that live in residential care facilities or group homes that are unable to care for themselves need 911 emergency services and assistance like everyone else, in many cases it is a matter of “life or death.” Everyone knows that 911 is a simple call for anyone that is a victim of a crime or in medical distress and emergency help responds and usually there within minutes, so why are people with disabilities living outside of their family home in the care of others being treated unequally?

As the father of a child that also was killed by his New York State employed caregivers 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/nyregion/boys-death-highlights-crisis-in-homes-for-disabled.html - https://www.nytimes.com/video/nyregion/100000000849083/a-failure-to-protect.html, very similar to the way Heather Roselli’s was killed https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/10/12/sandra-abdo-sarah-dilallo-death-webster-group-home-heather-roselli/758370001/ I have some of the answers to this disturbing unequal treatment and blatant discrimination. I have been a full time advocate for people with disabilities and their families for over ten years now and the first disturbing truth is that people with disabilities are without question being treated as a lower class citizen or as an unequally valuable person. Some forms of discrimination in civil rights are not as openly obvious as others, and the average person would not see it unless it was pointed out. The fact of this discrimination matter is really quite simple, the 911 emergency systems that swiftly dispatches paramedics and or police officers for people that are victims of crimes or in medical distress are for people with disabilities as well, to denying them equal access is discrimination. When people are informed of what is actually going on regarding the purposeful bypassing of the 911 call systems for the disabled they are appalled and many outraged. For some people it takes a moment or two for this injustice to sink in and to grasp what I am telling them and then when it hits them, their countenance usually changes and they say something similar to this in a very strong voice, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” When I tell them, no I am not kidding them; they are beyond shocked that such discrimination against innocent and extremely vulnerable children and adults with disabilities is going on still. It’s hidden from most people, including the families of their loved ones with a disability, they simply do not know this is going on and assume that 911 would be immediately called, when in most cases, they are never called or long after the person that is being abused or in medical distress has died. This obviously leads into the next question of why and the answer is money. New York State run or privately sub-contracted providers are more concerned about preventing justified lawsuits because of their own negligence over the safety, health and lives of those they are supposed to be providing safe and excellent services that are to be free from abuse and neglect per federal law. Hiding the damages from the families helps protect them from lawsuits and hiding the damages from the federal government keeps the massive amounts of Medicaid dollars flowing to them, no questions asked.

Everyone needs to know that in New York State, the entire mental health care system is under the control and authority of the Executive branch, Governor Andrew Cuomo currently. Right now in New York State’s extremely dangerous and deadly mental health care system between 11 and 13 people are dying every single day. A sizeable percentage of these staggering numbers of deaths are without question deaths because of some level of criminal negligence. Governor Cuomo’s top State officials are making sure most of these deaths that would expose his gross negligence never are reported to local police, County prosecutors or County Medical Examiners or Coroners. The cover-ups of deaths are massive in scope and Governor Andrew Cuomo has refused to stop the criminal cover-ups or the wide-scale discrimination of bypassing 911. The governor has continued to allow the internal investigations of deaths by State and private providers that County Medical Examiners or Coroners are legally supposed to do http://www.justicecenter.ny.gov/sites/default/files/documents/JusticeCenterDeathReportingClarification12-17-15.pdf and https://apnews.com/34c9c059196a4b70bc8ded92d2fbe4b7/9-deaths-no-charges-raise-questions-about-oversight-agency . Countless appeals to Governor Cuomo directly or Deputy Secretary of Health Paul Francis to stop these horrific cover-ups of deaths and these civil, human and constitutional rights violations and atrocities continue to be ignored. Federal Criminal and Civil Rights investigations of Gov. Cuomo and other top State officials involved by the US Department of Justice are critical.

Michael Carey
The Jonathan Carey Foundation
(518) 852-9377
email us here

The incredible life and tragic preventable death of Jonathan Carey, who was disabled, had autism, was non-verbal & only 13 when he was killed by his caregivers

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